Is He Really Dead?

There are three parts to this short story.The first is to tell us the present, the second to show us the past and the third to bring us to reality.

The reason behind why they hung Peyton Farquhar was really never explained. They told that how a soldier had passed his home and ask for a drink of water and told Farquhar, “The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels, or trains will be summarily hanged”(Bierce 9).My conclusion is that Farquhar went and interfered somehow and was caught.

Now that detailed emotions of the hanging and falling into the water was very detailed and I did not really enjoy reading those parts especially when at the end of the story he is dead.Farquhar states that he survived being hung and drowning and then they start shooting at him but he refuses to be killed by a bullet.My question is what actually killed him? I think it was the bullet.He had no idea that he was shot and he slowly died as he walked trying to find his home.